By Mary Romaniec
Grafton News Reporter –
Grafton Public Schools and the School Committee are evaluating a later start to the school day for high school and middle school students. The topic was addressed at Tuesday’s meeting.
Citing research on the benefits to students, Superintendent James Cummings said the adolescent brain is wired differently which affects their sleep cycle. He said the data suggests that when students are allowed a later start they arrive better prepared to learn and perform at a higher level. He also said research indicates student mood, alertness, stress levels and overall health can also improve.
Cummings said teens benefit from 9.25 hours of sleep for optimal performance but few students achieve that goal. During adolescence biological sleep patterns shift meaning it is natural to not be able to fall asleep before 11 p.m., he said.
Combined with hectic school schedules that includes athletics, homework and jobs, the average student is often sleep deprived, which is reflected into their academics and behavior, Cummings said.
Looking to address this thoroughly, the superintendent addressed the School Committee with an outline of scenarios for how the later start times would look like across the district. Currently high school and middle school students start their day at 7:25 a.m. and end at 1:50 p.m.
Cummings said the “gold standard” would be to push the start time, ending the day at 3:30 p.m. But a scheduling conflict could appear for for students who play sports or have a job. Even if sports were pushed back, Cummings said, surrounding school districts are not on the same time table, further complicating the idea.
A proposed compromise would be to start the high school and middle school at 8 a.m. and end at 2:30 p.m. This in turn would cascade the schedules for the elementary schools, Cummings told the committee.
Under the preferred scenario discussed with the School Committee, North Grafton Elementary School and North Street School would begin at 8:30 a.m. and get out at 3 p.m. This would be followed by the third tier of Millbury Street Elementary School and South Grafton Elementary School starting at 9 a.m., concluding by 3:30 p.m.
The idea to schedule by section of town was determined to be the best scenario for busing schedules. Even with that, more buses would become necessary to accommodate the schedule change, effectively costing up to $400,000 annually, Cummings said.
The caveat is how it would potentially impact child care in the lower grades and other variables.
On the flip side was the data that demonstrated a later start time leads to improved grades, less tardiness, fewer discipline issues, better mental health and overall well-being of the students.
Cummings spoke of other districts discussing and evaluating later starts for a decade, but have yet to move forward. For those that have, like the Nauset Regional School District, the benefits were immediate, the superintendent said. Tardiness dropped by 35 percent, while failing grades were cut in half.
Massachusetts ranks as one of the earliest start times for upper level schools. The national average is to start at 8 a.m., with the state average at 7:53 a.m. Grafton’s start time at 7:25 a.m. for middle and high school means students are at bus stops well before 7 a.m. The cumulative impact on less sleep on student performance in Grafton can only be speculated.
School Committee Chair Laura Often, suggested the proposed scenario is a draft only and would need greater study on the fiscal and logistical impact in the community. She added the community would need to weigh in at a later date as well.
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